Anno
Scholten has more than 25 years experience in the controls, security and
building automation industries. Before joining NovusEdge, Mr. Scholten was CTO
for Plexus Technology, Inc. where he was responsible for market development of
Plexus’ web based solution for building automation systems. Prior to that, he
was VP of Engineering for CSI Control Systems (now TAC), a worldwide building
automation system provider. As an innovator and thought leader in the industry,
Mr. Scholten has also served on many key industry standards committees and holds
a US patent on a VAV Controller Using Fuzzy Logic.

Open Source for Open Systems – an update

We’re implementing a project using OpenLynx that will
extend the current architecture as defined in the specification and publish new
modules and ontologies as v0.2. These new ontologies will include metering,
alarm management and notifications.

Sinclair: How is your
progress with OpenLynx,
Open Source for Open Systems?

Scholten: We’ve been very busy behind the
scenes developing the core functionality of OpenLynx. We released v0.1
nearly two months ago and are close to releasing v0.2 within the next two
months.

Sinclair: What are the
major additions for v0.2?

Scholten: Well, we’re implementing a
project using OpenLynx that will extend the current architecture as defined
in the specification and publish new modules and ontologies as v0.2. These
new ontologies will include metering, alarm management and notifications.

Sinclair: This sounds
interesting, what can you tell us about this project?

Scholten: This project has several
components that will both demonstrate the type of functionality OpenLynx can
provide and to extend the current specification. This includes an energy
metering interface to IP based pulse meters, demand response signaling
interfaces, user interfaces for reporting and event notification using email
and SMS. Of course, oBix will be a standard data interchange between
OpenLynx and other systems.

Sinclair: A focus on
energy applications is very topical right now. How can OpenLynx help?

Scholten: Yes, I think that the current
focus on energy efficiency, demand response and energy analytics is an
opportunity to get new players involved in the industry using new tools to
create innovative solutions. We think that the industry needs new energy
solutions on top of exiting BAS systems and we believe OpenLynx can provide
the Open Source platform to deliver these applications.

Sinclair: Why do we need
an Open Source platform for these energy applications?

Scholten: People value applications and
not the operating system that they are built on. For example, I use
Microsoft Word as I think Word is one of the best word processing
applications ever built. The fact that it works on both PCs and MACs allows
me the freedom to choose either platform. When Apple opened up the
development platform for the iPhone, 10,000+ applications were developed in
less than 9 months. Many are very innovative applications that a large
company like Apple may never have created. We need creative energy
applications for our buildings and we can’t wait for the large manufacturers
to get around to developing them. We need an Open Source platform on which
independent developers can create these innovative applications.

Sinclair: Don’t we have these platforms already for
these new applications?

Scholten: We did have some of these
platforms. Platforms like EnFlex from GridLogix and the Mediator from
Richard-Zeta. Unfortunately, these have been taken off the market with their
recent acquisition by JCI and Cisco. This has always been the issue with
middleware platform solutions (ESUSA acquired by JCI, Tridium acquired by
Honeywell, etc). I believe the best way to ensure a long-term solution is to
create an Open Source platform that is owned by the community and cannot be
acquired.

Sinclair: What do you
have in store for Connectivity Week?

Scholten: As track leader you are aware
that I am involved in the Reinventing Building Automation track in the
BuilConn The Future of our Reinvention session. I will be demonstrating the
applications we’re building for v0.2. We may even have an iPhone application
working with OpenLynx!

Sinclair: It sounds like
a great place to be to learn all about OpenLynx and how someone can participate.

Scholten: Absolutely, Ken. We will be very
keen to both demonstrate our progress with OpenLynx since its birth at
ConnectivityWeek and to discuss with people how they can get involved.